


Project 42

by VR_Trakowski



Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-11
Updated: 2014-11-11
Packaged: 2018-02-24 22:49:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2599409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VR_Trakowski/pseuds/VR_Trakowski
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haven't you always wanted to fly?  (Written between IM1 and IM2)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Project 42

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: The characters and situations in this story belong to Marvel Comics, Fairview Entertainment, Dark Blades Films, and other entities, and I do not have permission to borrow them. No infringement is intended in any way, and this story is not for profit. Any errors are mine, all mine, no you can't have any.
> 
> Unlikely, but I couldn't resist the idea. And it was Cincoflex who said yes!

He was deep in modifications on his sidecar idea and thinking hard when his stomach suddenly reached up and tugged on his brainstem, demanding calories.  When he thought about it, the pangs in his belly didn’t surprise Tony; Pepper had brought him lunch, but he’d forgotten to eat it.    
  
He found the sandwich under a welding glove and poked it dubiously.  It was stale, and he immediately dumped it in the trash can.  Tony didn’t consider himself a gourmet, at least when it came to food, but after three months of whatever nasty leftovers his captors in Afghanistan had tossed his and Yensin’s way, he took a conscious delight in eating what he wanted, when he wanted it.    
  
And _not_ eating anything he didn’t want.    
  
Pizza, he decided.  Double sauce, extra pepperoni, and anchovies on the side if his assistant wanted to share the pie.  He couldn’t stand the little suckers himself, but he loved to watch her eat them.    
  
“Pepper, how’s pizza sound?” he asked the air, knowing that Jarvis would pick it up and relay, and waited.    
  
When three seconds passed with no reply, Tony frowned.  “Pepper?”    
  
“Ms. Potts is indisposed,” Jarvis informed him calmly.    
  
Tony frowned harder.  “Is it that time of the month again already?”    
  
“Are you speaking figuratively or specifically?” Jarvis asked.    
  
“Yes.”  Tony rubbed absently at his beard, thinking.    
  
“The answer in both cases is yes.”    
  
He stared into space, envisioning Pepper in the north wing guest room that was unofficially hers.  “Did she take anything?”    
  
“Two hundred milligrams of celecoxib, twenty-one minutes ago.”    
  
“Does she need anything?”    
  
“I offered to draw her a warm bath, and she declined,” the AI said.    
  
Tony let out a short breath, reassured but not soothed.  “Go ahead and order a large pie at Tuscany’s, the usual, don’t forget the anchovies.”  Returning to his console, he added “Let her know as soon as she’s back online.”    
  
It had been _years_ ago (one corner of his brain automatically totaled them up as three-point-two-seven) when he had discovered the secret his efficient, persistent personal assistant had been hiding--    


* * *

  
They were in the middle of one of her schedule rundowns in his office at SI headquarters, Pepper listing his meetings for the day and Tony silently deciding which ones he was going to blow off, when she halted in the middle of a sentence, murmured a faint “Excuse me,” and bolted for his private executive washroom.    
  
With almost anyone else he would have assumed either a hangover or bad sushi, but he’d never known Pepper to consume more than one drink per evening, and somehow he just didn’t think it was food poisoning.    
  
Courtesy dictated that he wait for her to return, inquire distantly after her health, and then pretend that nothing had happened.  But, Tony decided, he was curious.  And when Tony Stark got curious...    
  
Listening at the door, he heard the unmistakable sound of vomiting, and winced.  This was followed by the toilet flushing, and then water running.  When it shut off, there was nothing more...but the door didn’t open.    
  
Brows drawing together, Tony listened hard.  The next sound was so faint that he almost didn’t catch it, but he knew what it was.    
  
Though he’d never heard _Pepper_ crying before.    
  
Curiosity flashed into concern so quickly that he didn’t even think.  “Pepper?”    
  
Rather to his surprise, the knob turned in his hand.  The door opened to reveal a startled Pepper standing at the sink, definitely green about the gills.  A few tears beaded her lashes, but it was the taut set of her mouth in the mirror that worried Tony.  “You okay?” he demanded.    
  
She turned to face him, rather stiffly.  “Mr. Stark--”    
  
He folded his arms and leaned against the doorframe, an attitude he knew she was familiar with.  “Answer the question, please, Ms. Potts.”    
  
She stared at him a moment, teeth biting down on the corner of her mouth--normally a very cute look on her, but he realized that she was bearing down much too hard.  “I’m fine, sir.”    
  
Tony didn’t move.  “Try again.”    
  
He could _see_ the calculations flashing behind her eyes despite her illness, and wondered why exactly he was pushing the issue, other than the fact that he really didn’t like to be lied to by people he trusted.  He was starting to worry that she would break skin by the time she finally spoke.    
  
“It’s cramps, okay?  Sir.”  She snapped out the words with a reasonable facsimile of her usual exasperated tones.  A hint of color relieved some of her paleness, but her defiant eyes clearly expected him to be the embarrassed one.    
  
For an instant, he was; despite the narrowing space between the sexes there were still a few things that men definitely had no part in.  But years back he had had a couple of relationships last long enough for menstruation to become an issue; and besides, he’d enjoyed the basic biology courses he’d had in college.    
  
“Did you take anything?” he asked, and Pepper blinked, startled again.    
  
“I--nothing works, when they get this bad.”    
  
Tony gave that a moment’s thought.  “Take an hour off,” he said briskly, arching a brow in a don’t-you-dare-to-argue when she opened her mouth.  “We’re not doing anything that can’t wait a little.”    
  
He stepped back out of the door, pointing one finger to stop her sputter.  “There’s a divan behind you.  Lie down and try to relax.  Sixty minutes, not one minute less, and if you come out sooner I’m locking you in, Potts.  That will be all.”    
  
He shut the door, propped his hands on his hips, and waited.  When it flew open again, he just gave her his best stern look.    
  
Pepper stood it for about three seconds, and then slammed the door in his face.  Smirking, Tony listened to the huff on the other side, then went back to his desk and began looking up medical websites and the building’s security video files.    
  
It took him most of that hour to plot out Pepper’s cycles of dysmenorrhea; they only seemed to occur a few times per year, and with slightly shamed hindsight Tony kicked himself for not noticing sooner.  Sure, the signs were subtle and she did her best to conceal them, but he was a freaking genius, he should have picked up on something like that if he noticed every time she bought a new pair of heels.    
  
When she did emerge--at 59:30 on the dot--he gave her a few seconds, then looked her over with one quick, analytic glance.  Now that he knew what to look for, it was clear that her pain had subsided, at least for the moment.    
  
“Have Gretsky in Acquisitions double-check the figures on that plant,” he said, shoving a file at her, and with that they were back to business as usual, with him refusing to acknowledge the spark of grudging, amused gratitude in her eyes.    
  
But within the week he’d evicted the neighbor on the other side of her office, ruthlessly switching the man to a room further down the hall so that he could install an identical executive washroom--down to the divan--for her private use.  A terse memo ordered her to make an appointment with the best gynecologist he could find within driving distance, and to make use of either of the private washrooms whenever she needed to.  He also bought several boxes of chemical heat packs, the sort that could be worn under clothing, and stashed them in her desk.  

* * *

  
Somewhat to his surprise, she’d accepted his arrangements without protest.  Over time, as she spent more of her working hours at his home, the third-floor north guest room had become her occasional retreat space, and “indisposed” the code word for one of her severe spells.  The issue didn’t come up in conversation; it didn’t have to.    
  
But that night, after Pepper had gone home, Tony found himself inexplicably curious again.  He hadn’t actually entered the north guest room in almost a year; there was nothing in there that he needed.  But this time he wandered in, noting the small changes Pepper had made.  The bed was neatly made, but the hollow in the spread-covered pillow hinted that someone had been lying down; a sweater was draped over the back of a chair; and--Tony bent down for a closer look, and had to grin at the actual bunny slippers peeking out from under the bed.    
  
The bedside table bore a stack of worn paperbacks.  He picked up the top one, half-expecting a romance novel, but the cover looked more like elderly science fiction.  The title, _So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish_ , didn’t seem to make much sense, nor did the line of print stating that it was a “trilogy in four parts”.  Bemused, Tony sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at the rest of the stack.    
  
He’d always been a fast reader.  It was almost dawn by the time he finished the fifth book, and he was sprawled across the bed, enjoying the soft scent of Pepper that rose from the spread.  _How come I never heard of this series?_ It wasn’t like anything he’d ever read, but it was _fun_.    
  
Closing the book, Tony stared thoughtfully at the ceiling, reflecting that every time he thought he knew Pepper, something new came up.  That, too, was fun.    
  
Stretching, he rolled onto his stomach and gathered the books together.  They were well-thumbed and fairly vintage, and he wondered how long she’d owned them.  One of them was broken-spined enough to fall open again, and he looked down, idly scanning the page.    
  
Then he went back, and read it for a third time, ignoring the absurd logic that equated flying with throwing oneself at the ground and missing.  When he was done, Tony set the book aside and rested his head on his folded arms, thinking.    
  
Remembering how Pepper loved to stretch the limits in her little Audi as much as he did in all his various hot rods.  Wondering how, by all that was holy, it had never occurred to him that she might want to try it.    
  
Then he shoved himself to his feet, re-stacked the books, clumsily straightened the bedspread, and stooped to arrange the bunny slippers in a very compromising position before heading back down to his garage.  Jarvis, ever patient, had kept Tony’s work on the screens to await his return.    
  
Tony contemplated the plans for a sort of lifepod built like his suit, to transport someone injured or otherwise incapacitated at speeds and altitudes too harsh for unprotected flesh.  Then he spoke.    
  
“Jarvis, save and close.  Start a new project.”    
  
The images vanished.  “Filename, sir?” Jarvis asked.    
  
Tony grinned, and reached into his virtual workspace, fatigue drowned in the joy of creation.  “Forty-Two.”    


* * *

  
They had been sleeping together three months by the time his surprise was finished.  Tony had suggested repeatedly that Pepper just move in with him in the big house, but she hadn’t yet given in, and he was afraid to push too hard; the hint of wariness in the back of her eyes both stung and worried him.  _Be patient_ , he kept telling himself.  _You’ve gotten this far.  So what if she goes home every few nights?  She’s always back in the morning._    
  
But he wanted her _there_ , with him, even if she was at the opposite end of the house.  He’d spoken simple truth when he’d told her she was the only person he had, with Rhodey doubting him and Obadiah traitorous and gone; and he had a deep and driving need to protect what was his.    
  
Nonetheless, baby steps were still steps, and Tony waited with metaphorically--and often literally--open arms at the end of Pepper’s path towards him.  She would come to him eventually.  And it would be the sweetest victory--and defeat--he had ever experienced.    
  
The summer sun was dropping towards the horizon when Tony finished the last set of diagnostic checks on Project 42.  Satisfied, he wiped his hands clean on a rag and headed for the stairs in search of his personal assistant.  Given that it was Saturday evening and his mind definitely wasn’t on work, Tony didn’t call her to come down; he did enough summoning during their working time, though he had to admit it was still very nice to have someone at his beck and call.    
  
An opinion he kept carefully to himself, however, lest he get properly thumped.    
  
He found her on the deck, under one of the big umbrellas but letting her toes dip out into the last of the sun.  She had on huge sunglasses and had set her laptop aside, and her expression was dreamy as she looked out to sea.  Tony paused in the sliding door to just savor the image she presented; savoring anything had never been one of his habits before, but he was definitely cultivating it now, most often where Pepper was concerned.    
  
Then she stretched and reached for the computer, and he stepped out to intercept, feeling oddly like a little boy who had something marvelous to show.  “Hey, Pepper, can you come down to the workshop?  I’ve got something I want your opinion on.”    
  
She lowered her sunglasses and looked inquiring, but rose when he held out a hand.  “Okay, what is it?”    
  
“Come and see,” Tony insisted, lacing his fingers with hers and leading her back inside.    
  
There was nothing on the launchpad when they reached the garage, but Tony folded his arms and spoke to the air.  “Jarvis, bring up Project 42.”    
  
Within seconds, the suit robots had assembled his latest effort, displaying it in midair much like a garment hung on a hanger, though there wasn’t nearly as much to it.  Pepper regarded it with both interest and confusion; a chest plate with a tiny reactor like Tony’s own, but outboard, connected by cables to a pair of gauntlets and a set of boots.  “It has a HUD in the goggles,” Tony explained helpfully, unfolding his arms to pick up the item in question from the nearest workbench.    
  
Pepper cocked her head.  “It’s another suit,” she said, sounding as though she were groping for answers.  “Is this one for Rhodey too?”    
  
Tony shook his head.  “Nah.  Jarvis, are the computations complete?”    
  
“One item of data is still missing,” Jarvis answered, and Tony grimaced.    
  
“Right, I forgot.  Pepper, how much do you weigh?  Never mind,” he said, as she turned to gape at him.  “Women never answer that one truthfully.  Come here.”  He scrambled up onto the workbench and stood up, beckoning and ignoring her sputter.  “Now, Potts.  _C’mere._ ”    
  
She made one of the little hand-waving gestures that meant exasperation, and walked over to stand in front of the bench.  “What does my weight have to do with anything, and for the record--”    
  
Tony crouched down and held out one hand at her eye level, interrupting.  “Here, grab hold.  Both hands.  Hold tight now.”    
  
Pepper shot him a skeptical look, but wrapped her hands around his wrist.  Tony straightened, and lifted her off her feet, ignoring her faint shriek and tightened grip.  _“Tony!”_    
  
Tony grinned at the sight of her dangling, but chose not to push his luck and lowered her back down.  “Call it one hundred-twenty, Jarvis, and run the numbers.”    
  
He jumped lightly back to the floor and looked her up and down critically.  She was wearing a camisole top and an old pair of his sweatpants, which were baggy at the waist but rode a little high on her calves.  “You’ll need a jacket, it gets cold up there.”    
  
As he walked away to hunt through the mess for the old leather coat he knew was somewhere, he could all but hear her jaw drop behind him.  “Tony...you can’t mean...”    
  
He grumbled, digging through a box of assorted junk.  “I know it’s here.  It has to be here.”    
  
“Tony.  Why would you build me a suit?”    
  
“ _Jar-_ vis...”  Tony looked up impatiently, and the AI answered imperturbably.    
  
“I believe your jacket is on the cot in the corner.  Beneath the bike helmet and the schematics for the convertible.”    
  
 _“Tony--”_    
  
“A _ha_.”  He fished the coat out of the pile, carrying it back to Pepper like a trophy.  She looked anxious and bewildered and the slightest bit annoyed, and Tony swept her into the garment, snugging it around her and zipping it up with a few quick motions.  His hands closed on her shoulders.  “Come on, Pepper,” he murmured, smiling at her.  “Haven’t you always wanted to fly?”    
  
She blinked rapidly, her mouth falling open again.  “I--yes--but, but, I don’t know how to!”    
  
He laid a quick kiss on her forehead.  “It’s easy.  I’ll coach you through it, and Jarvis’ll be on board to correct any mistakes.  In fact, he can take you up, and then you’ll have plenty of room to learn how it’s done.”    
  
Her gaze slid sideways to the suit, and to his delight Tony could see the beginnings of desire in her face.  “I don’t know...”    
  
“Trust me.  You do trust me, don’t you?” he joked.  “Pepper, it’s _fun_.  You’ll have a blast.  Seriously, it’s a high.”    
  
She bit her lip, eyes flicking between him and the suit, and he hoped hard that she would say yes.  It wasn’t just giving her the gift of flight; it was wanting to share this little bit of the experience with her, showing her a portion of what it was like to be Iron Man.  Nothing of the grim parts, the weapons and explosions and expiation of guilt; just the exaltation that could come when one was soaring out and up, dancing with the winds of the upper air.    
  
“I must be crazy,” she muttered finally, but her mouth was curving into a smile.  “You’re coming _with_ me, right?”    
  
“’Course.  I made two of these, but let’s get you set up first.  _Jarvis?_ ”    
  
“You ordered me not to interrupt,” the AI reminded him smoothly.  “Calculations are complete.”    
  
Tony rolled his eyes and guided Pepper out to stand on the launchpad.  “Here, start with the boots.”    
  
With the robots’ help and his own instruction, she put on the gear, eyes wide as the gauntlets--made out of a much lighter and more flexible material than his full suit--were slipped over her hands.  They were more like fine, tough gloves with the repulsor units in the palms, and cables running up the backs of the wrists to bend around the elbows and plug into the chest unit.  In fact, they looked a lot like one of his early test units.    
  
The chest plate settled over her shoulders, and Tony carefully placed the goggles over her eyes himself rather than let the robots do it.  “Give her a rundown of the systems controls, Jarvis,” he said softly, and went to pull on an old sweatshirt.    
  
It took him less time to don his own Suit 42 than it had Pepper, though he spent a lot of it watching her nod in absent response to the AI’s teaching, spoken into her ears through the goggles’ earbuds.  She extended one hand and performed the motion that activated the repulsor, though nothing happened; Jarvis had not activated her controls as yet.  Satisfied, Tony started plugging his equipment into his chest plate.    
  
When he was done, he clanked over to her; the boots were metal, and heavy.  “Okay, here’s how we’re going to do this.  Jarvis will take control of your suit and bring you up in tandem with me; when we’re over the ocean you’ll get your first flying lesson.  That okay?”    
  
Pepper nodded tremulously, but her eyes were bright behind the goggles, and he grinned back.  “Great, here we go.  Remember, hold still.”  He ducked his head to miss her headgear and kissed her briefly, then fired up his repulsors.    
  
Jarvis had slaved Pepper’s controls to Tony’s, with some intervention for differences in mass, and as Tony rose a foot or so off the floor Pepper did likewise.  She squeaked, much as she had when he’d lifted her, but didn’t move, and he grinned wider.  “Good girl--”    
  
With a twist of his wrists, they were zooming up the tunnel; he kept the speed low for Pepper’s sake, but her “Whooooooo!” made him laugh in response.  Then they were out, lifting in a lazy arc up over the calm water, rising through the twilight towards the first of the stars.    
  
“Oh oh oh...”  Pepper sounded alarmed and exhilarated both as the world dropped away beneath them; the communication circuit made her voice a little tinny, but the emotion came through clearly.  “Tony, I’m not sure I like this...”    
  
“You’re doing fine,” he soothed.  “Jarvis won’t let you fall, and neither will I.”  It was an awesome feeling, in the old sense of the word, to realize just how much empty air there was beneath their toes, and he didn’t blame her for feeling apprehensive.    
  
“Yeah, I guess--”  She glanced over at him, and while the goggles hid her eyes he could definitely see her grin.  “It’s just--oooh...”  She looked down.    
  
Tony saw her limbs jerk, caught the minute wobble as Jarvis corrected for the movement, and wondered if she was going to be sick.  He slowed them to a hover, bringing them both upright in the twilight.  “How’re you doing there, champ?”    
  
Her rapid breath slowed and steadied, and she turned her head to look back over the dimming land, where scatters of golden light were starting to appear.  “Tony, it’s _beautiful_.”    
  
Exultation filled him.  _She **sees** it. _ With a murmured word to Jarvis, he unslaved her repulsors and coasted in close, so he could see her better.  “Amazing, isn’t it?”    
  
Her smile was wide and wondering, and the fat moon descending the sky gave her hair a fairy shimmer.  Then she laughed.  “Show me how to do this!”    
  
It wasn’t hard to teach her; his Pepper was a fast learner, and the repulsor controls were intuitive.  “Slow and easy,” Tony cautioned.  “It’s not hard to go into a tumble.”    
  
All Pepper’s fear seemed to have vanished, because she laughed at him.  “Just how fast did you go your first time?”    
  
He grinned wryly.  “The first time I face-planted into a desert.”  The memory wasn’t as dire as it once had been--and besides, it had _worked_.    
  
She snorted delicately, wavering in the air as she got used to the feel of her repulsors on low power.  “You know perfectly well what I mean, Tony Stark.”    
  
He shook his head, and his grin got wider.  _She knows me._ “I tried to break the Blackbird’s altitude record.”    
  
“Hah,” Pepper said, and essayed a little more push.  “Whoops!”    
  
She was an awkward bird at first, stuttering in small loops and soars, and Tony flew slow circles around her and offered encouragement and tips.  It was fascinating to see the learning process from the outside, as it were, and he held himself poised to go after her should Jarvis’ triple backup somehow fail.    
  
He didn’t expect it to--Tony had calculated the odds as one in some millions--but where Pepper was concerned he simply could not refrain.    
  
Not that he _minded_.  Taking care of Pepper, inasmuch as she let him, was one of his chief joys.    
  
But Jarvis only had to rescue her twice, and the second time she berated the AI for not letting her figure it out herself.  Her clumsiness smoothed out as her confidence grew, and soon she was using all the thrust the 42 model provided, throwing herself into the abyss of sky above, her excited yell trying to catch up.    
  
Tony laughed in pure delight, and went after the slender figure trailing banners of light and moon-silvered red hair.  She was a gull, he decided, strong-winged, full of graceful power--    
  
They chased each other across the night, shouting and teasing, the sea glittering far below--dancing together as was never possible on solid ground.  It was no simple matter to keep up with Pepper, Tony found; he had experience and he knew the design inside out, but Pepper had an instinctual grasp of the forces involved, and she could corner faster, not being used to the weight of a bulky suit.    
  
When the third game of tag ended with her daring to follow his dive down towards the water and catching him just a thousand yards above it, he swung to a halt.  Pepper matched him, shivering with the cold of speed but her face flushed.  She pushed her goggles up onto her forehead, and Tony thought that the starriness of her eyes matched the heavens above them.  “This--is-- _incredible_!” she panted.    
  
Tony grinned and lifted his own goggles, leaving the earbuds in place.  “Yes it is.”    
  
“Tony--”  With great care, Pepper drifted closer, managing to get near enough to lean over and kiss him.    
  
Her lips were cold and sweet, and Tony kept himself rigidly still.  Move, and the repulsors would move him; but he returned her kiss with enthusiasm.    
  
Pepper broke it off with a little sigh.  “Thank you,” she said softly.    
  
He wanted very badly to reach out and pull her to him.  “Thank _you_ for trusting me.”    
  
Pepper twitched--an aborted hug, he guessed--and moaned in frustration.  “Tony, these suits have a design flaw.”    
  
Tony tried to bite back a smirk.  “Ya think?”    
  
She stilled, eyes narrowing in speculation, and he held his breath.  This one he wasn’t sure she’d approve of, the book notwithstanding; but the idea had burrowed into his imagination and refused to leave.    
  
“Just how far...”  Pepper tossed her head in lieu of a gesture, and Tony raised his brows, giving her a salacious look.    
  
“All the way, Potts.  Since when do I do anything less?”    
  
She snickered, and the knot just behind his arc implant relaxed at her answering smirk.  “I believe I’ll have to ask for a demonstration, then, Mr. Stark.”    
  
“My pleasure,” he breathed, and opened his arms.  “Jarvis, initiate Protocol L.”    
  
The cables leading from the back of his chest plate to his gauntlets stiffened, and Tony wiggled his hands free of them, leaving them extended palm-down at about waist height.  The repulsors continued to glow, holding him steady in the air.  He looked over at Pepper.  “Your turn.”    
  
Biting her lip in concentration, she imitated him, her gauntlets on their cables looking to his eyes like a pair of stylized wings.  Her breathing was speeding up again, and Tony reached for her as she held out her hands.  Jarvis’ guidance kept them steady as Tony wrapped his arms around her and brought her flush against him, rubbing her back.  “You’re cold,” he murmured into her hair.    
  
Pepper embraced him, laughing a little.  “And you’re a furnace, as usual.  Mmm.”  She kissed him again, this time with considerably more attention to detail.    
  
He lost himself in kissing her for a while, then yelped as chilly fingers dug under his sweatshirt and skated up his spine.  “Note to self, get Pepper her own neoprene.  Preferably skin-tight.”    
  
She giggled in his ear, lips moving distractingly against his skin.  “Think about that one, Anthony--it’d be a lot harder to get out of...“    
  
“Velcro?” he suggested breathlessly, just to hear her laugh again, and managed to work the jacket zipper down.    
  
Tony Stark had never been someone who valued familiarity in a partner, not until he’d fallen in love.  Now, three months into his first real long-term relationship, he was discovering that it was possible to know someone very, very well and still never be the least bit bored.  He had mapped out every sensitive inch of Pepper’s delectable body, and knew just how to get the reactions he wanted; and the beauty of it, still an astonishment to him, was that she knew the same about him.    
  
And used the information with the same sweet directness, when the spirit moved her.    
  
Right now, though, he didn’t really need any extra effort.  Tony had always had a very active libido to go with his active mind, and this particular scenario had been lurking in the back of that mind ever since he’d finished Pepper’s books.  And it was definitely a new sensation to have Pepper rubbing up against him while--not quite weightless--but floating.    
  
With the two views he loved best right before his eyes.    
  
His reach was somewhat restricted, but Tony made the most of it, letting his own fingers find their way beneath the jacket and Pepper’s camisole to warm her skin and make her purr.  She hummed delightedly and kissed him again, teasing him with hands and tongue, sliding down to cup his backside through his jeans.    
  
“It’s a good thing you’re wearing a button fly,” she murmured when she pulled her mouth from his.  “Zipper--ouch.”    
  
Tony winced a little, mostly for show.  “Yeah, well, it strikes me that we’re going to have a bigger logistical problem shortly.”  Her breasts were unfortunately out of reach beneath the chest plate of her suit, but her belly was both satin and sensitive, and Pepper gasped as he stroked her to shivers.  He grinned against her throat.    
  
“You mean...”  She pulled in a breath as his hands went lower.  “...you didn’t think this all the way through?  Tony Stark, I’m shocked.”    
  
“My blood flow isn’t exactly going to my brain right now, Pepper,” he deadpanned.  He approved of lending her his sweatpants; they hid some of her finer assets, but she looked absolutely adorable in them--and they made access a good deal easier than her pantsuits, for instance.  And her panties...he groaned in appreciation as his fingers found their waistband.  _Ribbon ties.  Couldn’t be more perfect._    
  
“Oh...”  She shuddered as he undid them and brushed the fabric aside.  Tony lifted his head and kissed her again as he teased her, aware on some level that her tiny rocking motions were starting to make them bob slightly; but he trusted Jarvis to keep them upright.    
  
“Better...”  Pepper sucked in more air.  “Better solve it soon, Stark.”  Despite his best efforts to distract her, she was undoing his fly, and it was his turn to gasp at the combination of cold air and her now-warm fingers.  “I have to admit...this penchant of yours...oh...to go commando has its advantages.”    
  
He chuckled and removed his hand and hers, and with one easy motion simply tore the sweatpants’ crotch seam open.  “There we go, problem solved...”    
Pepper was laughing again, with the rich note he loved to hear because it usually only appeared when she was in his bed.  “You are _such_ an engineer.”    
  
“I’m a _genius_ engineer, thank you very much,” he corrected her, smirking.  “Come here.”    
  
Pepper was a glorious sight, disheveled and aroused, the little reactor in her chestplate no brighter than her eyes.  “Hmm.”  She moved her hands to his shoulders, and bit her lip in consideration before very carefully hooking her legs around his hips.  The change in angle of her repulsors set them off their stationary balance, and they began to spiral slowly across the sky, but Tony was too busy appreciating the fit of her body over his, the delicious snug heat and the incredibly arousing little moan she always made the first time he slid into her.  He rather missed being able to feel the velvet perfection of her ass beneath his fingertips, but he had to keep a grip on her hips anyway, and oh, oh, _why_ had it taken him so long to come up with this idea?    
  
They took their time, moving gently, and Tony couldn’t tear his eyes from the sight of Pepper, all flushed arousal and moonlight, coming apart in his arms a thousand yards above the Pacific with all the stars for witness.  And he buried his face in her hair and let himself go, lost in a moment of utter, perfect beauty.    
  
  
“Where are we?” she asked a little while later, sounding lazily satiated.  Tony stirred and stole another kiss.    
  
“I’m not sure,” he admitted.  “Jarvis?”    
  
“You are almost five miles directly west of the house, sir,” the AI said in his ear.  “Do you wish me to bring you in?”    
  
“Nah.”  Tony sighed contentedly.  “We’ll be leaving shortly.  Just give me a ping if I get off course.”    
  
“You’d be lost without GPS,” Pepper teased, and he kissed her once more.    
  
“This from the woman who can’t keep a map in her head?”    
  
“That’s because my head has something in it--”    
  
Disengaging was a little awkward, but they managed, straightening their clothing as best they could and fitting their hands back into the gauntlets.  Pepper was smiling, Tony could just see it in the dim light, and he sighed silently, very content.  It was surprisingly hard to give her anything that _meant_ something, particularly when he could buy her whatever either of them pleased; but he had the feeling that this particular gift had been a success.  And because making Pepper happy was one of the major goals of his new revised life, Tony was very pleased.    
  
That, and he’d discovered a new form of mindblowing sex, but that was just a bonus...    
  
The trip back was silent; they matched paces, moving through a dreamlike space of peace and deviating only once, dropping further down for a better look at a lone humpback whale drifting at the surface and singing to itself.  When the house came into view Tony took the lead, not wanting Pepper to get confused at her first flight in a confined space, but she followed him in with no hesitation, and they dropped down to land in the garage with matching thumps.    
  
The repulsors switched off, and for a second they just looked at each other--and then Pepper threw herself into his arms.  “ _Thank_ you,” she said into his ear as his arms went around her.  “Tony, thank you.  I never--”    
  
She swallowed, and Tony held her tighter, completing the sentence in his head.  _Never thought she’d get the chance to fly._   “Now that you know how, we’ll have to do this more often,” he told her.  “I wanted to share it with you.”    
  
Pepper lifted her head and kissed him hard.    
  
As soon as they were out of the suits, though, he bundled her upstairs to the shower; her skin was chilled and part of his mind was already designing her a neoprene coverall like his own.  “Why ‘Protocol L’?” she asked, as he divested her of the jacket.  “Wouldn’t ‘S’ have made more sense?  And lose the clothes, Stark, I’m not showering alone.”    
  
Tony smiled at her, pulling off his sweatshirt.  “L for lovemaking, Pepper.  Sharing the sky with you like that could never be just sex.”    
  
It ended up being some time before they actually made it to the shower, and longer still before they realized that her panties were somewhere in the Pacific, a casualty of the experiment.    
  
Somehow, he didn’t think she minded.  

  
End.


End file.
